Is Venezuela's pipeline the highway to eco-hell?

WHEN Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela, called George W. Bush a “devil” at a UN summit last month it was only the latest in a series of provocative statements that has made him one of the White House’s least favourite foreign leaders. That antipathy may soon be shared by South America’s environmentalists, who are infuriated by his plans for a giant oil pipeline to unite the continent. The proposal alone will be disastrous, they say.

Last year, Chávez secured the backing of the continent’s other main leaders to construct the world’s biggest oil pipeline, 10,000 kilometres long, linking the …